http://www.icann.org/en/news/announcements/announcement-6-04jun12-en.htm
Roadmap to Implement SAC 051
4 June 2012
As requested by the ICANN Board, ICANN is publishing the updated
Roadmap<http://www.icann.org/en/groups/ssac/documents/sac-051-roadmap-04jun12-en.pdf>
[PDF, 218 KB] for the coordination of the technical and policy discussions
necessary to implement the recommendations outlined in SAC 051. There are two
main recommendations in SAC 051: 1) improve Whois terminology to enhance and
disambiguate the discussion; and 2) replace the Whois protocol to address
various technical issues (e.g., internationalization). This Roadmap is the
second version of the document, which was revised to include input from the
community. The Roadmap will be submitted to the ICANN Board for its
consideration.
Created in the 1980s, Whois began as a service used by Internet operators to
identify individuals or entities responsible for the operation of a network
resource on the Internet. The Whois service has since evolved into a tool used
for many purposes. However, as usage of Whois service evolved, few changes have
been made to the protocol that supports the service. As a result, there is
growing concern that the protocol would not meet the need of the community.
Beginning in 2002, ICANN's Security and Stability Advisory Committee (SSAC)
published various advisories describing deficiencies related to the WHOIS
protocol, service and data schema, most recently SAC 051: SSAC Report on Domain
Name WHOIS Terminology and
Structure<http://www.icann.org/en/groups/ssac/documents/sac-051-en.pdf> [PDF,
243 KB]. SAC 051 summarizes the previous advisories, and among other things,
recommends that the ICANN community evaluate and adopt a replacement protocol.
Recognizing its concerns with the WHOIS protocol deficiencies, on 28 October
2011, the ICANN Board approved a
resolution<http://www.icann.org/en/groups/board/documents/minutes-28oct11-en.htm#5>
directing staff to produce, in consultation with the community, a roadmap for
the coordination of the technical and policy discussions necessary to implement
the recommendations outlined in SAC 051.
On 18 February 2012, ICANN published a draft Roadmap to implement SAC 051 for
public
comment<http://www.icann.org/en/news/public-comment/sac-051-draft-roadmap-18feb12-en.htm>.
Most commentators agreed with the approach proposed in the draft roadmap to
replace the WHOIS protocol (SSAC recommendations 2 & 3). Given the general
consensus on the proposed roadmap, it was deemed not necessary to open a second
round of public comment. Instead, this updated Roadmap to implement SAC 051 is
being published.
Glen de Saint Géry
GNSO Secretariat
gnso.secretariat@xxxxxxxxxxxxxx
http://gnso.icann.org